I need to look over these manifests and see whether there are any other MV pings in the names.

For all I know, I’ve done this already. But they are the only other candidates.

The 15 March one … I can’t get a manifest image. He’s listed as Nicola Cartese, and there are a few of what seem to be misspelled MVese names there. I should find that manifest image; doesn’t exist at Ellis. Says he’s from someplace called “Lutani” which doesn’t exist but could be “Lucania.” A bit early for that name, but it’s still worth a look. Listed as Nicola Cortese at NARA.

The 16 April arrived with some MVese names (Gargano and Toscano), but came with someone named Giovanni Cortese, and there isn’t a Giovanni in our family tree back in MV. That’s a slightly less likely possibility since 1893 is neither 1892 nor 1891, as claimed on the two censuses for my Nicola.

The 1893s aren’t too likely, though — that would have been a hell of a whirlwind marriage if they were married on 28 March 1894. Still though, the 15 March 1893 fellow is a possibility.

I did find a “Nicola Cartese” heading to Philadelphia, though … in 1901, from Chiaravalle, Ancona. To meet a brother in Philadelphia. We’ve got squat to do with Ancona; that’s way the hell north. Just looked at the manifest at EllisIsland.org — where he’s listed as Nicola Cortese and seems headed for New York, to meet a cousin Vincenzo. I have no idea what’s going on with the database at Castle Garden, but this doesn’t seem to be the right guy for multiple reasons, so he’s out.

That other one from 1892 still seems like the best hit, but it’s not at 100%.